On the Commemoration Day of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria of Rome, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Liturgy in the Almaty Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”

April 1, 2025 – Tuesday of the 5th week of Great Lent, the commemoration day of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria of Rome.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of Saint Gregory the Dialogist in the church dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in the city of Almaty.

Serving with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Protopriest Valery Zakharov, Dean of the parishes of the Southern Capital and Rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral; Protopriest Evgeny Vorobyov, Rector of the Church of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow”; Protopriest Valery Shavrin, Rector of the Theophany Church of Almaty; Hieromonk Cherubim (Levin); Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Priest Roman Burdukov, Sacristan of the Exaltation of the Cross Church of Almaty; Priest Roman Klyuev, Rector of the Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky in the village of Saymasay (Alexandrovka); Hieromonk Gennady (Solovyov), cleric of the Church of Saint John the Theologian; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Alexander Piven; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

For the service, an icon of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria of Rome containing particles of their holy relics was brought to the church.

The choir of the church, under the direction of O. Solomonova, sang the hymns.

The homily before Communion was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the conclusion of the service, a glorification was offered to the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria.

Metropolitan Alexander warmly thanked the clergy and parishioners for the joy of shared prayer, congratulated those who had partaken of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and delivered a sermon.

Saint Chrysanthus of Rome is the heavenly patron of Metropolitan Alexander’s spiritual father – the ever-memorable Metropolitan Chrysanthus of Vyatka and Slobodskoy (+ January 4, 2011). The bishop’s mother bore the name of the martyr Daria.

The Head of the Metropolitan District offered memorial prayers for the repose of the saintly hierarch and his mother.

The only church in the Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria is located at the Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery in the city of Kostroma. The construction of the gate church in their name began in 1840 at the initiative of Emperor Nicholas I, who had visited the monastery in 1834. The project was designed by the renowned architect Konstantin Ton, creator of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The dedication of the church to the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria was not accidental: their feast day, April 1, is historically associated in Russia with two notable events – the departure of Michael Feodorovich Romanov from the Ipatiev Monastery to Moscow for his coronation, and the triumphant entry of Russian troops into Paris after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814.

Liturgical services in the church ceased in the early 1920s following the closure of the Ipatiev Monastery. In 1923, after a fire, the archbishop’s residence and the Church of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria were handed over to the city’s textile workers’ union and converted into housing for factory workers.

After a local history museum was established within the walls of the monastery, the church housed an exhibition dedicated to the revolutionary and Soviet history of Kostroma.

In late 2004, through the initiative and efforts of Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich (now Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan), the Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Monastic life was rekindled within the monastery.

After the removal of the museum exhibition from the Church of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria, restoration work began; wall murals were revived, and an iconostasis was installed.

The first Divine Liturgy in the church since its closure – more than 80 years earlier – was celebrated by Archbishop Alexander on April 1, 2008. On May 6 of the same year, he performed the Great Consecration of the church. With the blessing of Archbishop Alexander, daily monastic services and the reading of the prayer rule began to be held in the church.